@EnglishRail

Fellow, @NYUMarron. PhD in Urban Planning, Columbia University. Writer for pubs incl @CityLab, @GlobeandMail.

infrastory.substack.com
Joined January 2014
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Also, it looks like the links @CityLab to the list of my articles is broken, so here they are. bloomberg.com/news/features/…

Why Did America Give Up on Mass Transit? (Don’t Blame Cars.)

Streetcar, bus, and metro systems have been ignoring one lesson for 100 years: Service drives demand.

bloomberg.com
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The last in my 3-part series on infra of the Great Lakes looks at diversion infrastructure that moves water into & out of the basin. Some in the middle of a major city, while other in areas so remote they lack roads. Also, some of the wildest old schemes. Link in reply.
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Infrastory: We Make Rivers Flow Backwards infrastory.substack.com/p/we…
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Jonathan English retweeted
FastTrackTO@FastTrackTOOct 5
Phase rotation is finally active at some intersections on Line 6 Finch West! But what is phase rotation? And how does it make my commute faster? 🤔👇
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The Great Lakes are packed with invisible infrastructure that’s essential to the North American economy. Part 2 of their 3-part series on Infrastory looks at Niagara, Lake Ontario, and St. Lawrence. Link in reply
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From Niagara to the Atlantic infrastory.substack.com/p/fr…
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Jonathan English retweeted
Infrastory@Infrastory_Oct 12
Our next instalment in the Great Lakes series focuses on the Niagara River and Falls and their significance in the area. Read now:
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This is the first of a three part series I’m doing for Infrastory on the infrastructure of the Great Lakes. Link in reply.
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The Great Lakes Are a Managed System infrastory.substack.com/p/th…
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Not that long ago, we lived in a world where very few things were standardized. You couldn’t plug things into any random wall outlet, trains couldn’t run on tracks of other railways, even screws wouldn't fit just anywhere. This week's Infrastory article linked below.
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Every city has its transit map. But too often they’re more than a little misleading, with routes that run only a few times a day or shut down on weekends. A city's real transit maps, with the useful routes, can be shockingly limited. Link to Infrastory below
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I love this so much. Ridership in Burlington up 49% since 2019, after they improved service on a bunch of bus routes. That's at a time when many cities were experiencing post-pandemic stagnation. This is a notably affluent, low density suburb. burlingtonpublishing.escribe…
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I wrote a bit on this (linked below). 70s France-US comparison shows building new generally goes better than trying to fix up old. It’s very complex trying to rebuild over-century-old infrastructure. 1/
Matt Spoke
@MattSpokeSep 9
Genuine question for @RM_Transit and @EnglishRail on the topic of Alto and the use of $90b (give or take $100b)… How much could Via be improved with that amount of capital? What are the legitimate technical limitations of “old” rail being upgraded? Is there a scenario where Via could become >80% as good as the Alto promise, but with significantly less risk of a boondoggle?
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There’s a tendency (especially Anglo/Northern European) to try and go for a solution that delivers 80% of the benefits for 50% of the cost. Unfortunately, these solutions very often tend to deliver 40% of the benefit for 80% (or sometimes 100+%!) of the cost.
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Now if you’re talking about VIA across Canada, as we should, a Calgary-Edmonton, Vancouver-Whistler, and Vancouver Island corridor are no brainers. VIA needs to be much more national. But first 2 still require deal w/ freight.
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